Denny Daniel

Denny Daniel is the curator and founder of The Museum of Interesting Things — a traveling interactive demonstration/exhibition of antiques and inventions that goes to schools and events and inspires kids and adults to be curious and to tinker.

The recession that disillusioned so many ironically spurred Denny into a buying frenzy of various interesting things for his newest vision, The Museum of Interesting Things. The epiphany that inspired the museum is two fold: one at Shea Stadium, and one with a neighbor’s son. A 1904 Thomas Edison Cylinder phonograph arrived at Denny’s apartment with a large curved horn. A neighbor’s child, Enoch, enjoyed postulating various methods to assemble it until he figured out how to put it together and make it work. That was when Denny realized he needed to put the things he owned to work inspiring people to invent and innovate.
On the field of the old Shea Stadium, Denny Daniel was filming an event for Songs of Love. They had written a song for a critically ill child, and assembled a crowd at Shea Stadium to sing the chorus for the sick child. On that field he realized the importance of helping others and inspiring others to better their lives.

Denny Daniel began his career as a freelance filmmaker and photo restorer for such companies as The Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation, Songs of Love, MTV, and The New York Times. Amassing his collection of antiques for decades and having had over 20 museum and gallery exhibitions of his own work at locations like the Chelsea Art Museum and the Hermitage Museum, he decided to use his knowledge, experience, contacts and extensive collection of over 1000 antiques to start a hands on museum that teaches learning from the past to innovate a better future.

He has lectured several times on his film work and the history of film and photography at Columbia University and New York University. He has also lectured at The School of Visual Arts, and worked on 2 films that both won at the Sundance Film Festival.

As curator of The Museum of Interesting Things, Daniel has appeared in over 20 TV and radios shows, including Oddities and Pawn Stars, and featured in numerous articles in periodicals such as The New York Times, Timeout, and The Chronicle.

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What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxFultonStreet, where x = independently organized TED event.

At our TEDxFultonStreet event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.